This week marks Opening Day – the beautiful beginning to baseball season. I love baseball – and that’s not an April Fools joke. I know baseball has a bad rep nowadays, even with it being “America’s pastime”.
Sometimes, I understand where people are coming from when they say baseball is boring. The truth is, it’s a very mental sport. That’s why it’s slow and laboring, but the payoff, the magic of October, is worth it. I think you pick up a certain type of intelligence from watching baseball – maybe that’s why baseball movies, like The Natural, The Sandlot and Bull Durham, make the best sports movies. Or maybe that’s why baseball reminds me of classic, old-school drinking lemonade on the porch America.
And that is also what makes Opening Day so special. Other sports have season openers, but Opening Day is a celebration. Nothing beats the optimism in baseball players when Opening Day rolls around. Mike Stanton and Josh Johnson actually make me believe that my Florida Marlins are going to the World Series. And that’s just the half of it – being a baseball fan in the Bronx, home of the New York Yankees, a franchise that epitomizes baseball, is something else.
Baseball, I’m glad you’re back. It’s going to be a great summer.
~ Sarah